Chinese democracy after Tiananmen / Yijiang Ding.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [152]-168) and index.

"In 1989, most observers believed that political reform in China had been violently short-circuited, but few would now dispute that the country is in a very important transition. Central to the process has been an extraordinary change in the formal intellectual conception of "democracy." Chinese Democracy after Tiananmen explores this pivotal idea, presenting a multidimensional picture of contemporary China at the political crossroads." "Yijiang Ding looks at the significant change in the state-society relationship in three intertwined areas: the intellectual, the social, and the cultural. Drawing on very recent Chinese scholarship, Ding shows that the emergent theory of the dualism of state and society is contemporaneous with a new cognitive and cultural appreciation of the people's independence from state authority." "Is China moving toward liberal democracy? Does Western engagement with China contribute economically and politically to this shift? The questions that lie at the heart of this book are especially timely in light of the recent reconstruction of political regimes worldwide."--BOOK JACKET.

1 Introduction: Democracy in the Chinese Context 3 -- 2 Pre-Tiananmen Intellectual Rethinking of State and Society 15 -- 3 Post-Tiananmen Discussions 30 -- 4 Emerging Civil Society: Associations 48 -- 5 Reorganizing Rural Society: Village Self-Government 76 -- 6 Cultural Distinction and Psychological Independence 97 -- 7 Conclusion: Theory and Reality 119.